Spider Mites and Garden Invasions

Discover how effective ways to manage spider mites during a garden or farm field invasion. Read about spider mite insects and where they live.

A dangerous class of pests

If you are a farmer or gardener you may have experienced the arduous task of dealing with a spider mite invasion. A spider mite belongs to a dangerous class of pests that survive on ravaging crops. The insect comes in different colors and it is very small in size spanning lest than 1 mm. If you are noticing small webs around your crops then you may have to get closer and establish if your crops have been invaded by a ravaging spider mite population. A spider mite generally lives on the under side of the plant leaves. These pests survive on puncturing plant cells and then sucking off plant juice for their livelihood.

Quick reproduce and spread capacity

What makes a spider mite population very difficult to deal with is that these pests reproduce and spread at an accelerated pace that can burgeon to millions in a short span of time. A female spider mite can lay up to 20 eggs in two to three days and each spider mite can become sexually mature in just five days and this is one of the reasons why spider mites are some of the most difficult pests to deal with. Owing to their nature that prefers hot and dry conditions to survive; one of the most effective methods of dealing with a spider mite invasion is to consistently water the plants and keep the spider mites at bay.

The glasshouse spider

A spider mite would normally form a web around where it has been living and this is why the pest has been given the name “spider’ and that denotes its webbing capabilities. Every spider mite that you see belongs to the 1600 species of spider mites that do exist. One of the common spider mite specie is the Tetranychus Urticae also known as the glasshouse spider mite or more commonly- the two spotted spider mite. Spider mites normally come in various colors although the most popular colors are red and yellow.

Use of chemicals

Some of the most common measures of controlling a spider mite invasion include the use of chemicals. There are some chemicals that have been produced particularly for curbing the spread and impact of the spider mites on crop population. These chemicals are known as miticides or acaricides. There are not so many pesticides for dealing with the spider mites and one backdrop of using chemical based pest control measures is that with time the spider mites become resistant to chemicals and become even more difficult to deal with.

Natural methods first

If you want to effectively deal with a spider mite invasion the best thing to do is to go for natural methods first before going for chemicals. Spider mites prefer hot and dry conditions and if you continuously water your plants you will be creating unfavorable conditions for the spider mites and this may actually work well to keep them at bay. If the impact of these spider mites is far reaching you may have to switch to chemical based methods for a quick fix although you have to guard against over using the chemical based methods which can only make the spider mites more resistant to chemicals.

We hope you found this article about spider mite invasions interesting and learned some basic information about spider mites and their treatment.